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This morning again dawned too early, and soon I was off to our Board Meeting, at the offices of our host firm. Following the meeting, I just about made it back to the hotel in time to rush upstairs, change and head out to the tour of the Jewish Ghetto. Known today as Josefov after Joseph II, the Holy Roman Emperor who emancipated Jews in 1871, it is completely surrounded by the Old Town. Jews are believed to have settled in Prague as early as the 10th century, and were eventually concentrated within a walled ghetto (prior to the first World War, during the Crusades!). Jews were considered enslaved to the king, and were not permitted to leave the ghetto unless they wore a yellow marker on their clothes so that everyone would know that they were Jewish. The marker was yellow because it was believed that this bright color would stand out the most against any dark clothes they might wear. Jewish artisans were not permitted to sell their wares outside of the ghetto and it was only in 1262 that the community was granted a degree of self-administration. Our tour guide gave us the history outside of the Jewish
Town Hall, which she then pointed out as the center of the local Jewish community. She especially noted the two clocks on the tower, one with Roman numeral markings as most clocks have, but also one with Hebrew numbers and hands, which turn counterclockwise since Hebrew reads right to left. It was very interesting, and supposedly keeps perfect time!
Most of the quarter was demolished between 1893 and 1913 as part of the initiative to model the city after Paris. Only six synagogues, the old cemetery and the Old Jewish Town Hall remain and are now part of the Jewish Museum. The purpose of creating the museum was to preserve artifacts from the Prague synagogues that had been liquidated during this period of reconstruction. It was closed to the public during the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia on March 15, 1939. The impact of World War II on the Jewish community was permeable throughout our entire afternoon in the ghetto, almost as if you could reach out and touch it. We went first to the Pinkas Synagogue, which was build by Aaron Meshullam Horowitz in 1535, and turned into a Memorial to Holocaust victims following the second World
War. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take any photos inside, so my description will have to suffice - I hope I can do the experience justice, but it is something you should see for yourself. On the walls of the synagogue, both upstairs and downstairs, are inscribed the names of those Jews from the Czech Republic who died in the Holocaust - for each entry, the last name is written in large red letters, followed by the first name, and the dates of birth and death (if known). This is repeated for each family member, with a yellow star separating the names of each of the families. It's hard to describe what it feels like to walk silently through these rooms, as the names are read aloud, interspersed with Hebrew prayers; to see the names of those who were lost, written small and covering entire walls and rooms and still only representing those lost from the Czech Republic. I saw names of people who had lived forty or fifty years, and many who had only lived twenty years, some less and even one baby. It is overwhelming to imagine a woman of my age being forced to live in
This is the oldest gravestone in the cemetery
The stones are left to show that people have been here to pay their respects. Some leave pieces of paper with prayers on them also.a concentration camp because of her faith, to starve on only 700 calories a day, be forced to see and do unspeakable things - the force of it was a weight in the rooms that could not be lifted. We learned that Terezin was the only concentration camp on Czech soil, and it was considered to be one of the "better" ones (if that term can even be used) because it was more of a transit station for Jews to other prison camps. Originally built for soldiers, it was designed to house 7,000 people. At it's height, there were over 50,000 Jews forced to live there. Although they did not have gas chambers at this camp, so many people died of malnutrition and disease that the suffering was still extreme. Listening to our tour guide, seeing these names, just illustrated the true horror of the Holocaust. I was truly overwhelmed.
But I had not yet arrived at the most moving and devastating exhibit of this synagogue. Upstairs, the memorial holds a permanent exhibit - "Children's Drawings from Terezin 1942-1944. Among the Terezin prisoners, there were over 10,000 children under the age of 15 at the time of imprisonment. Of
the 8,000 that were deported to the East, only 242 survived. The loss is incomprehensible. During their time at Terezin, the children were permitted to take part in drawing lessons, and a number of the drawings are exhibited at the synagogue (or exact copies, according to our tour guide). Again, I find it difficult to find the words to describe these images - such raw talent, depicting images including nighttime transports to concentration camps, the experience of having to register as a Jew, signs refusing services and goods, and even death. The saddest were those pictures of hope, a look beyond their time in these camps - just achingly sad and terrible. What an important reminder that we should never forget what hate can do.
One of the most fascinating parts of the whole experience was taking it all in as a group of German teenagers on a school trip walked alongside me. I could only guess at their reactions, which I imagine are no different to mine and it gives me hope that we can all learn from the lessons of the past. I was talking to one of the spouses yesterday, who said to me that she
has often tried to put herself in the shoes of the people who helped the Jews, whose bravery often earned them nothing more than an execution. She wondered whether she would have the same courage if faced with the same circumstances. I agreed with her, and said I had wondered the same thing and we both hoped that we would. She said although it is often clear what the right thing to do is, it's not always easy to do it. It gives me so much more admiration for those who risked their lives to do what is right.
As we left the Pinkas Synagogue, the thunder and rain started, almost as if the heavens were crying with us for the utter loss and devastation of the Holocaust. Of the 118,000 Jews who lived in the Jewish community in Prague before the war, only 3,000 survived.
We moved next to the Old Jewish Cemetery, established in the first half of the 15th century and considered one of the most important surviving monuments in the Jewish Ghetto. The oldest tombstone dates from the year 1439, marking the grave of poet and scholar Avigdor Kara. Although the cemetery contains almost
12,000 tombstones today, it is not known how many people are actually buried there, but it is commonly believed that the number is much, much higher with multiple burial layers on top of one another. The most prominent person buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery is Rabbi Liwa ben Bezalel, known as Rabbi Low, who is associated with the robot Golem. The story behind Golem is an interesting one - it is believed that there existed this statue or robot (I was not clear on what the guide said), who was a kind of Frankenstein - basically, not alive. One day, Rabbi Low put a wafer in his mouth (which symbolized God) and in putting the figurative God into him, brought him to life. As long as he had this wafer in his mouth, he could work around the synagogue. However, Golem insisted that on the Sabbath, the wafer be removed so that he could rest. One time, Rabbi Low forgot to remove the wafer, and Golem went crazy, destroying things until the Rabbi removed the wafer. He vowed never to put the wafer back in his mouth again, and it is believed that Golem is buried in one of
Interesting Statue
Apparently this statue by Jaroslav Rona is based on a vivid description that appears in an early Kafka story. The idea is that it is Kafka himself, who was forced to study law because it was what his father wanted, instead of being the artist that he longed to be. The idea is that he is the small man who is forced to ride on the shoulders of a headless man who appears to have no heart, no soul. the synagogues in the Jewish quarter.
Next, we went on to the Klausen Synagogue, which is located at the exit of the Old Jewish Cemetery. It was the largest synagogue in the ghetto and at the same time served as Prague's burial society. There is a permanent exhibition there of Jewish Customs and Traditions, particularly focused on items used to celebrate various holidays such as Yom Kippur and Hanukkah. These items had been recovered from the Nazis who had stolen them from the Jews they put into concentration camps, so the synagogue is another type of memorial to the Jews lost during the Holocaust. It was rather crowded in there, thanks in part to the downpour of rain, so we quickly left for the Spanish Synagogue, which was absolutely stunning. I managed to take a picture (though you're not supposed to!) - it was just so beautiful in there. Built in 1868 on the site of the oldest Prague Jewish house of prayer, the synagogue has a square footprint, with a large cupola above the center. The artists who decorated it used stucco arabesque and stylized oriental motifs, which are found on literally every surface, from the walls to
the ceiling to the doors and balustrades. Even the windows were stained glass, intricately cut to match the motifs of the synagogue walls. I was awed by the intricacy of the work and the way in which all of the images appeared exact, though they were done by hand. It was truly impressive.
In the synagogue, there was another exhibition focused on the "History of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia from Emancipation to the Present." I was again particularly touched by the artifacts from World War II - there was a yellow star patch, intended to identify the wearer as a "Jude" (Jew); a photo of Terezin and it's layout, written in German; notes from children to other children, photos of children who were killed. It was again overwhelming in the enormity of the loss and devastation that was inflicted during this period of history.
The rain had mostly faded by the time we left, exhausted from the wave of darkness that all of the memorials had brought up. We walked back to the hotel, stopping first in the Old Town Square, where I learned that the clock tower is part of the Old Town City Hall. Part
of the City Hall was destroyed by the Nazis in 1945, who set it on fire, and the remnants of the wall still stand today, now attached to a number of buildings, as well as the clock tower.
We managed to arrive back at the hotel with enough time for me to shower and get ready for this evening's dinner at Zofin Garden Restaurant. The Zofin Palace is located on Slovansky Island and is a neo-Renaissance mansion built in honor of the Archduchess Sophie, mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I. We were in a tented dining area (the garden cafe) outside, and unfortunately the rain dampened the view a bit, which I understand is beautiful. I had an extremely pleasant meal with some of our lawyers and their spouses, enjoying a menu of aubergine terrine, served with wild mushrooms and chef's vinaigrette (tried and hated it), a veal sirloin marinated in black olives served with spinach potatoes (ate all but the green veggies), and a chocolate tart with coffee corpus (could only eat a little bit because it was so rich it gave me a headache!). All in all an interesting and lovely day, and the conference only officially
started with dinner! I am again exhausted and wishing I had more time to sleep (I think only 6 hours or so) - tomorrow on to the meetings and finally the Strahov Monastery!
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